What’s the Minimum Calorie Intake You Should Consume When Dieting?

What’s the minimum calories you need when dieting is the question that must be answered so that you know your diet will work and create lasting results… or so that you can fit into that bridesmaid dress or perfectly-tailored suit next month.

The truth of the matter is, you need to eat to lose weight! You don’t want to eat more than you burn, but keeping a diet that is too restrictive can actually hinder your progress.

Say what?

Yep, the body needs a certain number of calories every day for essential functions… even if you’re lying in bed all day watching Netflix. The heart needs to pump blood, lungs need to intake oxygen, kidneys need to filter wastes, liver needs to detox, and the brain needs to concentrate and run the body.

The number of calories you need to eat to maintain these vital processes is what’s known as resting metabolism or basal metabolic rate (BMR). Everyone’s BMR is different because it’s based on age, sex, height, muscle mass, weight, and a host of genetic factors. While your BMR can be used as a guideline, physical activity and stress also play a role in how many calories you burn on the daily.

The problem is, if you aren’t eating enough, the body doesn’t get what it needs for basic functioning and will start to break down muscle and other lean tissue for fuel and you’ll burn fewer calories… not what you want to happen when you’re trying to shed some pounds.

Also, because you’re likely missing out on key nutrients, your body will do drastic things, such as leach minerals out of your bones, to get what you need. These are simply the physiological effects.

There are also complex psychological reasons why we should fuel our bodies optimally. If you’re too restrictive, you may set yourself up for a binge. This is the case of eating too low-calorie during the week, and undoing it all with that cheat meal(s) on the weekend. Hey, the body is smart and knows how to get what it needs: ENERGY a.k.a. FUEL a.k.a. FOOD.

How to Figure Out How Many Calories You Need

To calculate your caloric baseline without racking your brain with a complicated mathematical equation, multiply your current weight in pounds by 11. For optimal functioning of vital processes, it’s recommended that women should not go lower than 1,200 calories per day and men should not eat less than 1,500 calories per day.

Keep in mind those are the minimum calories you should eat per day, and many people actually need to eat more than those baseline numbers to lose weight and keep it off for good.